[QuadList] New Octaplex recorder design

[allanmc-avtech at comcast.net]

I recall "stories" of NASA having specialized 2" quad VTRs adapted to record data telemetry using headwheels with eight heads.  Never saw one myself, but this discusion recalls those old memories.  Does anyone else know anything about such machines or technology?

Allan McConnell

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Don Norwood" <dwnorwood at embarqmail.com> 

> Following up with a little more info, attached is a pic of the head 
> assembly, a pic of a "modern" RCA octaplex head, and the track format specs 
> for the machine. 
> 
> You can see that the RCA head very closely resembles a quad video head, 
> except that it has 8 transducers on the drum. Additional studying of the 
> manual indicates that the female guide on the early Ampex did not have any 
> vacuum. Instead, the tape path appears to have placed the guide slightly 
> outside of the normal plane of the tape path, thus causing the tape to 
> travel against the guide. 
> 
> Don 
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From: "Don Norwood" <dwnorwood at embarqmail.com>
Subject: Re: [QuadList] New Octaplex recorder design
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:56:23 +0000
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